Environment

In a world that is more and more urban, cities have a great responsibility when it comes to time to achieving more a sustainable development that can satisfy the needs of current generations without compromising the capacity of future generations.

In this framework, Educating Cities made a commitment to progressing towards a more sustainable urban development, not only in environmental terms, but also in social, cultural and economic terms, as part of the12th International Congress of Educating Cities, as can be seen in the Declaration of Changwon. This is an option that involves citizen education in order to achieve a change in values, principles and behaviour.

Principles of the Charter: 8 and 11

Charter of Educating Cities

Congress

Focus Experience

Experiences - News

Water, Camera and Action – socio-environmental educommunication

The project aims to generate conditions for young people between 15 and 29 years old to experience socio-environmental learning about water problems in the city, according to their perceptions while at the same time valuing the specificities of each territory. [...]

Municipal School of Sustainability

An innovative space that promotes environmental education in the city of Curitiba, located in a recovered natural landscape that implements diverse and intersectoral training actions, intended for different audiences, from children and teenagers to adults and the elderly. [...]

Creating More Natural, People-Friendly Outdoor Spaces at Schools

The City Hall of Cascais understands the need to adapt the municipal primary school playgrounds and transform them into more natural, people-friendly spaces in order to make the most of their potential as an educational space. [...]

Green Currency: Exchanging organic waste for money

The project begins with the separation of organic household waste by citizens, which is then taken to collection points, where people receive 1 unit of Green Currency for every 5 kilos of organic waste. This waste is later treated and converted into fertiliser. [...]

The Ave for Everyone in Guimarães

The project was born with the objective of promoting citizen participation in the conservation and improvement of the Ave River, and proposes a multidisciplinary and dynamic approach to empower the citizens of the municipality in the management of their own water resources. [...]

Generation S: Food Sustainability Programme

The project, implemented in all schools of Esposende, is based on a food sustainability plan that seeks to promote a change in attitudes and behaviors among the new generations in the face of global environmental problems. [...]

EMEA Park School: Good educational practices for full and sustainable citizenship

The Parque Tangará Municipal School of Environmental Education (EMEA), in Santo André (Brazil), offers activities for citizens to learn ways of living in the city in a sustainable way and integrated with the environment. [...]

Rivers With Life

Under the tagline 'giving rivers back to the people', the project makes the connection between the past and the future of water, showing people the region's natural wealth and the regeneration work being carried out in rivers with a view to fostering active citizenship to protect them. [...]

Climate Shelters at Schools

"Let's adapt schools to climate change through green, grey and blue" aims to transform schools into salubrious spaces by incorporating vegetation, shade and water sources. [...]

Pimp my yard

Pimp my Yard is a project that seeks to educate and raise social awareness among citizens. The project is based on social participation, community initiatives and responsible design. [...]

Sustainable Food Plan

A municipal system of agro-ecological, fair and local collective catering. [...]

50/50 Energy Saving Project

Engagement of entire educational community in saving energy and water through raising awareness and changing habits. [...]

School Street

It consists of temporarily closing the street (or part of it) that leads to a school while the pupils are arriving or heading home (approximately thirty minutes), in order to improve road safety and air quality. [...]

Green Library at the municipal libraries of A Coruña

An initiative begun in 2013 that fosters awareness of citizenship through sustainable practices and respect for nature, by engaging the municipal libraries in environmental commitment. [...]

The Rivers Project

The Rivers Project encourages citizen participation in the conservation and improvement of our rivers through citizen awareness of the problems of our fluvial eco-systems and the need to protect them. [...]

The EnCicla public bicycle system

A sustainable mobility proposal for the city of Medellin and the Metropolitan Area of Aburrá, an alternative system integrated into, and complementary to the city’s mass public transit system. [...]

Energy training using smart meters in homes

In the framework of this domestic training programme about energy saving, 100 volunteer families were given a smart electricity meter for six months as a tool for controlling and becoming aware of home electricity consumption. [...]

Shared Gardens

Citizens who live in apartment blocks, which do not have private green areas, transform the public space at the street level of their buildings into a community garden, which would in turn foster more direct contact amongst neighbours and socialization. [...]

Vila Real Biodiversity Conservation Program

The aim of the Program is to ensure the preservation of the city’s rich biological heritage through local development and connecting people to the environment that surrounds them. [...]

Green Kilo

In order to promote recycling, once a moth this program is carried out and consists in an exchange of kilos of recyclable waste for plants that are native to the Quintana Roo region. For every kilo brought in the person receives a plant. [...]

Creation of a briquette manufacturing

Paredes is a city that has 1,260 furniture factories. Aware as it is of this fact, the City Council looked for a solution in order to recycle the wood left over of the factories, transforming it into briquettes, which are used as fuel in schools and other public establishments. [...]

Eco-meals in the equipments of the City of Gothenburg

Through this experience the City Council of Gothenburg intends to increase the ecological raw materials, rich in fruits and vegetables, in the municipal services, educative centres, health services and nursing homes. [...]

A Cleaner Rosario

The City Council of Rosario set up this program in 2009 with the goal of dealing with the waste management from a cross-disciplinary, participatory perspective, opting for a cultural change. [...]